This invention relates to aircraft brake disc and more particularly to drive clips for reinforcing the peripheral slots in aircraft brake discs made of carbon.
Aircraft brake assemblies employ a plurality of axially aligned brake discs wherein one set of alternate discs are splined to the wheel rim while the remaining alternate discs are splined to the axle housing. To accommodate the splined connections, the peripheral slots have drive clips mounted therein for reinforcement purposes to compensate for the limitations of the physical properties of the carbon discs and to give increased wear characteristics. The conventional design in the use of brake drive clips is to provide a plurality of bores adjacent to the slots so that clips or inserts located in the slots are retained thereon by rivets and pins extending through the clips and the discs to retain the drive clips in place as they help transfer the load to the carbon discs. The clips or inserts of the present invention utilize caps that captively seat on the respective peripheral side portions of the slots requiring no fasteners such as rivets, pins or screws to thereby reduce complexity, weight, and cost of the assembly. The cap clips or inserts of the instant invention are relatively significantly easier to install and replace than the riveted inserts of the prior art. Cap clips can be replaced without disassembling the brake. A further serious disadvantage of riveted clips is their failure or their loosening which leads to insert failures and damage to the brake and/or wheel assembly. Various modifications of the cap drive clips of the instant invention incorporate retainers which prevents the clips that loosen during service from dislodging when the wheel is removed. An additional unexpected benefit of the geometry of the instant invention is its ability to be non-resonant with the frequencies of vibration that the brake discs go through when compared to and experienced by prior inserts and discs. An additional benefit of some versions of the instant invention is to significantly protect the carbon disc from oxidation in the drive clip area as well as the outer peripheral area of the brake disc.